"Bigfoot Stole My Wife" and My Personal Family Experience

Growing up our parents’ tech us that telling the truth in any situation is the right thing to do. When we tell our first lie and of course if we get away with it, we then learn that the effect of telling that lie was harmless because of the simple fact that we did not get caught up with that lie. We also learn that it became a benefit to ourselves because we felt comfort at the moment that the lie was told. Once we learn that it was easy, we then start to lie more and become better at it. It is almost like an art because lies could get very complex and become so believable.Some people lie because they want their conversations to be more interesting. Others might lie because they want to get out of trouble and we even might lie to ourselves to escape from the truth that we could not accept.Being morally right is an important aspect in life and lying will automatically be the wrongthing to do but lying to ourselves makes us feel comfort at that moment and provides us with hope because the truth is too hard to live with.

Acceptance is the most difficult stage that an individual could experience, even when all the signs are displayed in front of you, you could still be in denial. In Ron Carlson short story “Bigfoot Stole My Wife,” the main character tells his side of the story of how Bigfoot stole his wife Trudy. He had a feeling that one day Trudy will be gone because she will say “One of these days I’m not going to be here when you get home” (79). On the other hand, he claims that Bigfoot was watching her too because she would work in the garden wearing some “cut-off Levi’s and bikini top” (79). He blames himself because he was too busy thinking about his races. He knows that it was Bigfoot because it was a mess in the kitchen and it look like there was a wrestle. Not only was there a wrestle but it smelled disgusting, it smelled like Bigfoot. He also knows that she is missing because her clothes, her dog, and the car are missing. When one of his friends came over the house to witness the kidnapping of his wife,his friend questioned the fact that his wife was stolen. The main character claims that he doesn’t care if people believe him or not about the incident. He knows for a fact that “Bigfoot stole his wife” (83). It is obvious that his wife Trudy officially decided to leave her husband for Bigfoot, but he is so heartbroken that it is hard for him to accept the reality. Sometimes it is best to lie to ourselves about the situation instead of accepting it because it makes us feel more comfort to know that there is some hope.

For instance, in the beginning of marriage problems we tend to find excuses about why our partner is acting indifferent. Let me tell you about, my mother and father, they have been married for thirty years going for their thirty first this November. For the past year my mother had gotten a bit too friendly and to close with a man name Luis that she had met in a workshop that the community of Long Beach held. At first my sisters and I really did not hear a lot about this man until approximately six months ago, when my little sister name Daisy moved back home and she would keep me posted about how my parents were doing. Daisy started telling me that my mother, in which she is a stay at home wife, started going out suspiciously. Most of the time she always will tell my sister Daisy where she was going but know she will just leave home without saying anything at all. At first it was odd until Daisy started realizing that she was being picked up by this man Luis. One day Daisy came home and my mother was serving Luis lunch. Of course my sister felt uncomfortable about the whole situation. It started getting out of hand, Luis will be consistently at my parents’ house, while it was my father’s work hours and they will also go out, who knows where. My sister Daisy decided to confront my mother about the whole situation and she simple said that our father knew and he was okay with it. Daisy couldn’t hold her tongue and decided to talk to my father about it and my father simple said that she never got to enjoy her childhood and young adulthood and that’s why she was going out a lot. My father said that he was okay with what was happening and it was only something temporarily. That he understood our mother and to put ourselves in her shoes. It is clear that my father is lying to himself about the whole situation, how he could make excuses for my mother if he knows that the whole situation is just plain disrespectful. My father is trying to convince himself about my mother’s actions because it makes him feel comfort by believing that my mother is going thru a phase. This was the beginning of his lie.

Denial is one of the hardest part of overcoming a lie that you have created in making yourself believe. In my father’s lie in making himself believe that my mother was going into a phase where she was going to get over it in a couple of weeks it became more like months. One day I went to visit my parents to see how they were doing and I found them cleaning the house. I stayed in the back guest house waiting for them to finish. My father approached me and sat right next to me and ask me how I wasdoing. We started to make small talk. Until he started talking about my mother is when the conversation started to get really serious. He was telling me that my mother is never home now and that she doesn’t cook anymore or even does laundry. He has no clue where she goes all day and what she is doing. My father was explaining to me that they used to argue a lot and when he stop asking her questions about her whereabouts things started to get more peaceful between them and they don’t argue anymore. He said that at the beginning she would go out here and there but that now she is always out and about. I asked him that now that he stopped asking about her whereabouts if he believe that she had taken advantage of it. He answered, yes. I also asked him that if he didn’t think that it was dangerous for their relationship, and that could proceed to a more serious action. He stood quiet and said nothing. My mother right at that moment arrived and we ended the conversation. Later on when I was leaving he then told me not to worry that their relationship was completely fine, better than ever he said. Lies! I almost felt like he was crying for help but in the end he wants to deny that my mother is possibly cheating. He wants to hold on to what he made himself believe because it makes him feel comfort to know that there is still hope.

In the short story “Bigfoot Stole my Wife”, the main character and my father are dealing with the denial of the truth, they lie to themselves to feel comfort. My father by finding excuses for my mother’s actions and the main character for saying that it showed there was a “struggle” in the kitchen, instead of believing she left with Bigfoot (80). The main character asked for his friend to come over and see the evidence and his friend questioned the whole scenario. Just like how I questioned my father about their “healthy relationship” that he claims they have. Both don’t want to accept the truth because just thinking about it will drive them insane and probably wouldn’t know how to live with the truth. They want to hold on to that lie because in the end they want to feel hope. What is left is that hopefully Bigfoot stole his wife and he would return her to him. The hope that my father feels that this is a phase and they will be just fine in the end. But the real question is how the main character said, “… I’m going to keep hoping to see her again, but it is my belief that I probably won’t” (79).